


Knowledge or Death (And Ignorance is Bliss)

by squirenonny



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Galra Keith, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Season 2 spoilers, She/Her Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Takes place between episodes 8 and 9, Trans girl Pidge | Katie Holt, reaction fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-18 20:59:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9402671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirenonny/pseuds/squirenonny
Summary: Keith tells the rest of the team what he learned in the Trials of Marmora.[Season Two spoilers! Set between "The Blade of Marmora" and "The Belly of the Weblum"]





	

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for S2! Last warning!
> 
>  
> 
> A reaction fic because this was the one thing I most wish would have been included in season 2.

“Are you going to tell the others?”

Shiro’s words were light, but like the knife once more sheathed at Keith’s waist, they carried an impossible weight. Keith’s hands tightened on Red’s controls, and he kept his eyes locked on the castle-ship up ahead. Though Shiro stood close behind Keith and had kept his voice low, Keith couldn’t forget the presence of the two Galra in the cockpit.

The two _other_ Galra.

“Keith?” Shiro’s hand came to rest on Keith’s shoulder, as warm as ever, a reminder that Keith hadn’t changed. That nothing had to change. He was part Galra, but he always had been. It didn't matter. Even if there was a darkness in Shiro's eyes that made Keith want to curl up and hide from the knowledge he'd found in the trials. The fact that Shiro was here at all meant something.

“Do you think I should?” Keith asked.

Shiro breathed out, long and slow. “To be honest? Yes. No secrets, remember.” He squeezed Keith’s shoulder. “But I understand if you need time. If you want to wait, I’ll support you.”

The words brought the sting of tears to Keith’s eyes, and he blinked a few times, trying to focus on the path projected on his screen. Now wasn’t the time to lose focus, not with a star on one side and a black hole yawning on the other.

“Thank you, Shiro.”

They stayed like that, Shiro a silent comfort behind Keith, the castle-ship looming ever larger ahead. The others were still pouring out their relief that Keith and Shiro had emerged unscathed. Apparently they’d detected Red’s rampage and had feared the worst. Keith wondered whether their relief would remain once they knew the truth about him.

Red rumbled in Keith’s head, one part concern, one part protectiveness. She didn’t think very much of the Blade of Marmora so far, Keith knew. She didn’t like what they’d done to her paladin, and she wasn’t happy having to carry two of their members.

 _It’s okay, girl,_ Keith thought, resting a hand on the dashboard. _We need their help. We need them if we want to stop Zarkon._

She turned sullen, and Keith got the feeling she would have already ejected Kolivan and Antok if not for Keith. He smiled at the thought of him— _him—_ being anyone’s impulse control. If he wasn’t still aching from the trials, Keith couldn’t honestly say he wouldn’t have picked a fight himself. Still, it was nice to know she still trusted him. Whatever the others thought, he still had Red. He still had Shiro.

“I’ll tell them,” he said, as much for his own sake as for Shiro’s. “As soon as we get back. Like ripping off a bandaid, right?”

He tried to smile, but his face felt stretched thin with fatigue and a low-simmering fear. Shiro’s attempt, half-glimpsed in a reflection off the viewscreen, was hardly more convincing.

* * *

 

It was one thing to decide that he was going to come clean. Actually doing it was something else altogether. Shiro had convinced their new allies to wait in the lounge for a few minutes while he and Keith spoke to the rest of the team, and then there was nothing to do but come out and say it. They stood on the bridge, Shiro at Keith’s side, the others ranged around them. Keith couldn’t look them in the eyes, but he felt the weight of their attention on his blade. A blade of Marmora. Proof of the Galra blood running in his veins.

“So I guess there’s no denying it,” Keith said once he'd finished explaining about the trials. His voice sounded impossibly loud in the silence. “I’m part Galra.” When no one answered, he looked up, searching their faces for signs of suspicion and hatred. What he saw were a lot of dropped jaws and wide eyes, like no one had figured out how they felt about Keith's parentage.

No one, that was, but Allura, who watched him with a furrowed brow and a scowl normally reserved for enemy troops.

Keith’s heart clenched, and he tripped over his words in his haste to—to what? Defend himself? Explain? Convince the others that he wasn’t like Zarkon? “I didn’t know. You have to believe me. I had no idea I was anything but human until we met Ulaz. Even then, I didn’t—I couldn’t--” He faltered, his breath stalling in his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Keith,” Shiro said, clasping his shoulder. “It’s a surprise to all of us, but it doesn’t change anything.”

Except that it had. Keith didn’t have to be good with people to know that this knowledge had changed _everything_. Coran had recovered quickly and was back to running diagnostics on the castle-ship. He’d been more paranoid than usual since their problems with the teludav, and apparently a part-Galra paladin didn’t rank as high on his list of potential catastrophes as another system malfunctioning.

The others… were less convinced. Hunk seemed like he wanted very much to hide his unease but couldn’t quite manage it. Pidge wouldn’t look Keith in the eye. Allura was openly glaring now.

Keith was about ready to call it a wasted effort and flee to the relative safety of Red’s hangar when Lance suddenly yawned, stretched, and flopped backward into his chair. “Is that all, or can I go check out the pool now?” Six pairs of eyes turned to Lance, who raised his eyebrow and slouched lower. “What? Coran finally fixed gravity down there so _real_ people can swim. I was promised cannonballs and a jacuzzi, and I intend to collect.”

“Could you be serious for _once_?” Keith growled. “I’m _Galra_ , or were you not listening?”

Lance climbed lazily to his feet, scowling. “I heard you just fine, Mullet. You’re Galra, congratulations. We’re all very proud.” He crossed the space between them and patted Keith’s head with an obnoxious smile. “Now are you gonna come swimming with me, or do Galra not like water?”

“I’m not a _cat_!”

“No, you’re a paladin.” Lance jabbed Keith in the chest, and his smile grew even wider. “If you want someone to cry with you over your DNA, you're out of luck.” The words were flippant, but there was sympathy in his eyes, and after a moment of stunned silence, Lance's smile turned soft. "Seriously, man, you look like you could use a break. I'll give you a _facial_ ," he added in a singsong.

Keith felt as if his legs had been cut out from under him. “Lance...”

Color crept into Lance's cheeks and he backed off, his finger drumming on his thigh. “Oh, come on. Don’t go getting all sappy on me, now. It’s not like anything’s actually changed.”

“Lance is right,” Coran said, flashing Keith a smile. “You think we kept you around because you’re human? Ha!” He shook his head, muttering under his breath about _cute little synapses_.

Keith swallowed, his throat thick with emotion. “Thanks, Coran. Thanks, Lance. That means a lot.” He glanced at the others. Pidge no longer looked like she’d been punched in the gut. She didn’t look happy, exactly, but Keith would take neutral. “Hunk?” he asked, dreading Hunk’s answer. He still looked nervous, his eyes darting toward Lance every few seconds. Lance took great care to look disinterested.

“Lance… Lance is right,” Hunk said. He looked like he was volunteering to be sacrificed, not voicing his support of Keith. “I mean, the Red Lion did choose you, didn’t she? Well, sure, I guess she did _technically_ ignore you at first, but she was okay after that. She’s okay with you now, right?” Hunk paused, sneaking a look at Keith. “She… _is_ , right? I mean, you flew her back here, so that means she still likes you, doesn’t it?”

Lance sighed dramatically. “Yes, Hunk. It does. We’re stuck with Keith and his bad hairdo forever.”

The knot in Keith’s chest was beginning to loosen, and he wrinkled his nose at Lance. “Why are you so obsessed with my hair anyway?”

"Because it's _terrible_ and you need a haircut."

"Maybe I like it this way, did you ever think of that?"

“Paladins,” Allura said sharply. “Focus! We came here for allies in the war against Zarkon. We should not keep them waiting.”

Keith turned to her, his high spirits faltering. He had to force himself to speak. “Does… this mean you’re okay with me being part Galra?”

Her face remained hard, unreadable. “I think I’ve made my opinions on the Galra quite clear,” she said.

“Right.” Keith laughed once, humorlessly. “If any of us _were_ good, we would have already defeated Zarkon, right? After all, we’ve _had_ ten thousand years.”

There was a note of hysteria in his voice. He knew it, he saw it reflected in the concerned expressions of his friends, and he knew he couldn’t let it control him. So what if Allura didn’t trust him? So what if the others weren't completely convinced? It didn’t matter. None of it mattered.

“Keith,” Shiro said, his voice low. “It’s okay. We’ll get through this.”

Keith pulled away from him, putting everything he had into—well, not a smile. He knew he couldn’t pull that off with this storm raging inside him. But he could at least cover up his doubts and his pain and the memory of Shiro— _not_ Shiro, he reminded himself, just another Galra trick—turning his back and walking away.

_Then you’ve chosen to be alone._

“Fine,” he said, staring blandly at the side of Allura’s head. “It’s fine. You already agreed that working with Galra was a necessary risk. Nothing’s changed, has it? Let’s just figure out how to stop Zarkon, and then you never have to see me again.”

“Fine.” Allura didn’t look at him as she spoke. “Someone go get Kolivan and Antok. We have a lot to discuss.”

Ignoring the way his heart constricted at the ice in Allura’s voice, Keith turned and stalked out the door. He could use the chance to get his ragged breathing under control.

Light, quick footsteps chased him out of the room, and he turned to find Pidge trailing after him. She didn’t speak until the elevator doors closed, sealing them off from the others. Then she took a breath, leaned back against the wall, and let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m not interested in your DNA,” she said, not looking at him.

Keith’s brow furrowed. “Uh… thanks?”

Pidge’s shoulders twitched in a half-hearted shrug. “I just… thought you should know. People are more than computer programs. The code in our blood only takes us so far. It’s who you choose to be that matters.”

“Pidge, I--”

“Don’t.” She took another breath, shuddering and shallow. She seemed almost as nervous as Keith, in a way. It was kind of comforting. “You being part Galra... It took me by surprise, and I’m sorry. I’ve let _Galra_ become synonymous with the people who took my family away.”

“It’s fine if you’re uncomfortable, Pidge,” Keith said, careful to keep his voice level. “I get it.”

She scowled. “But it’s not fair to you.”

“I’ll live.”

For a long moment, Pidge was silent. The elevator reached the level of the lounge, where Kolivan and Antok were waiting, and Keith stepped out, eager to leave the stifling silence behind.

He’d barely taken two steps when Pidge caught his arm in both hands. “They just need time, Keith, that’s all. No one hates you, they just… They aren’t thinking straight. We’re all tired and stressed, and I know it sucks but--”

“It’s _fine_ ,” Keith said. He kept walking, hoping Pidge would let him go, but she held on, trailing along behind him like some kind of overgrown duckling.

“It’s _not_ fine,” Pidge said. “I know it’s not, and I wish I could fix it, but everything’s—everything’s just.” She huffed. “It’s all quiznaked up is what it is. But it’ll get better, I _know_ it will. What is it Shiro’s always saying? Patience... Patience yields...”

Keith stopped walking, his heart in his throat. “Patience yields focus.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said. “That.” She tugged on his arm until he turned around, and before he could tell her to stop worrying about things that couldn’t be fixed, she lurched forward and hugged him. “Once they all slow down and think, they’ll see that you’re still you. You were all okay with it when I told you I was a girl, right?”

Chuckling, Keith patted Pidge’s back. “That’s a little different.”

“Not really.” She tipped her head back, grinning. “If anything, you’re in a better position than me. I deliberately lied to you all. You legitimately didn’t know your mom or whoever wasn’t human. Anyway.” She pulled back, planted her hands on her hips, and stared him in the eye, daring him to argue. “All I’m saying is, we’re a family, and family doesn’t give up on each other that easy.”

She didn’t wait for his answer, just turned and took off toward the lounge.

Keith stared at her back, smiling faintly. “Family, huh? I like the sound of that.”


End file.
